Department of Human Development and Family Scienceshttp://hdl.handle.net/1957/18472

2015-03-31T18:13:46ZLiving in Non-Parental Care Moderates Effects of Prekindergarten Experiences on Externalizing Behavior Problems in Schoolhttp://hdl.handle.net/1957/50078
Living in Non-Parental Care Moderates Effects of Prekindergarten Experiences on Externalizing Behavior Problems in School
Lipscomb, Shannon T.; Schmitt, Sara A.; Pratt, Megan; Acock, Alan C.; Pears, Katherine C.
The current study examines the effects of prekindergarten quality and quantity on externalizing
behavior problems for children living in non-parental care, compared to other children from
socioeconomically at-risk backgrounds. Data were obtained from the Head Start Impact Study.
Non-parental care was defined as a primary caregiver other than a biological, adoptive, or step-parent.
The sample included 3029 children who attended center-based prekindergarten. Teacher-child
conflict and more hours of prekindergarten predicted increased externalizing behavior
problems for the full sample. Teacher-child closeness and overall process quality were only
associated with externalizing behavior for children in non-parental care. Findings are discussed
within a goodness-of-fit perspective in which the vulnerabilities of children in non-parental care
explain how they respond to their prekindergarten experiences.
This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by Elsevier and can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01907409.
2014-05-01T00:00:00ZStrengthening school readiness for children at risk : evaluating self-regulation measures and an intervention using classroom gameshttp://hdl.handle.net/1957/38753
Strengthening school readiness for children at risk : evaluating self-regulation measures and an intervention using classroom games
Schmitt, Sara Anne
In recent years, self-regulation has emerged as a foundational skill for academic success and well-being. Unfortunately, many children enter kindergarten without the self-regulation skills necessary to succeed. Children from high-risk backgrounds (e.g., low-income) are particularly vulnerable for difficulties in self-regulation development. Given these documented gaps in self-regulation, it has become critical to first identify children at risk for poor self-regulation and then work to improve these critical skills prior to school entry. This dissertation includes two studies that focus on strengthening self-regulation and school readiness for children at risk. The first study addressed measurement inconsistencies in the field by investigating the predictive utility among teacher-rated, observed, and directly assessed self-regulation skills to academic achievement in preschoolers. Results indicated significant, positive relationships for teacher-rated and directly assessed self-regulation for early math and literacy skills. Domain specific patterns emerged in our measurement comparisons in that teacher ratings were the strongest predictors of literacy, and the direct assessment was the strongest predictor of math. Observed behavioral self-regulation was not significantly related to either academic domain. Study 2 examined if children who participated in an 8-week intervention demonstrated greater gains in self-regulation and academic achievement over the preschool year compared to children in a control group. In addition, indirect intervention effects on achievement outcomes through self-regulation were explored. Finally, differential intervention effects for English language learners within a sample of children from low-income families were tested. Results indicated that children in the intervention group demonstrated greater gains in self-regulation over the preschool year compared to the control group. In addition, although there were no significant direct effects of the intervention on academic skills in the full sample, significant indirect intervention effects emerged on spring achievement through self-regulation. Finally, group comparisons revealed that the intervention was related to significant gains in math for children who were English language learners. Taken together, findings from the studies in this dissertation inform our understanding of self-regulation measurement and intervention, which is critical for helping children at risk for poor school readiness.
Graduation date: 2013
2013-05-16T00:00:00ZParental beliefs and practices : influences of parenting in Latino/a and Caucasian children's behavioral regulationhttp://hdl.handle.net/1957/38666
Parental beliefs and practices : influences of parenting in Latino/a and Caucasian children's behavioral regulation
Diaz, Guadalupe
The transition to kindergarten can be challenging for many children who do not have the necessary skills to meet the demands of classroom settings such as paying attention, remembering instructions, and demonstrating self-control. Children who lack the necessary behavioral regulation skills to meet the demands in the classroom environment are at risk of lower academic achievement (Blair and Razza, 2007; Galindo & Fuller, 2010; McClelland et al., 2006). Previous research has documented that disadvantaged children are at higher risk for having poor behavioral regulation and lower academic achievement (Galindo and Fuller, 2010; Wanless, McClelland, Tominey, & Acock, 2010). Moreover, parental beliefs and practices such as the discipline strategies, parent interaction, and parents beliefs about their children have been recognized as an important influence on children's behavioral regulation, but very little is known about the parental beliefs and practices of Latino/a parents and their influence on children's behavioral regulation. Therefore, it is important to explore the parenting styles and behaviors of Latino/a parents and their influence on children's behavioral regulation, as well as examine how factors such as acculturation influence the parental beliefs and practices of Latino/a parents. Using principal component analysis, regressions, and qualitative interviews, this study examined the reliability of the Parenting Questionnaire (Morrison & Cooney, 2002) for Latino/a and Caucasian parents. It also explored if parenting dimensions differently influence Latino/a and Caucasian children's behavioral regulation. In addition, the study explored how acculturation levels among Latino/a parents may influence parenting styles and behaviors. Using a modified Parenting Questionnaire, results indicated that for Latino/a parents, the quality of the family learning environment had a significant positive relation to children's behavioral regulation. For Caucasian parents, parental beliefs had a marginally significant and negative relation to behavioral regulation. The acculturation levels of Latino parents were not significantly correlated and did not significantly relate to the parenting dimensions. The qualitative interviews indicated that Latino/a parents face constant struggles to provide additional educational materials to enrich the home learning environment of their children. In addition, parent control and parent beliefs, which include respect and being well educated, emerged as key factors that guide parents' expectations of children's behaviors and discipline. Understanding the influence of parenting dimensions on Latino/a and Caucasian children's behavioral regulation provides important empirical evidence to further understand how parenting dimensions may differently relate to the behavioral regulation and academic achievement of Latino/a and Caucasian children.
Graduation date: 2013
2013-04-04T00:00:00ZThe effects of age and neuroticism on stress reactivity and cortisol diurnal rhythms : findings from the Normative Aging Studyhttp://hdl.handle.net/1957/37888
The effects of age and neuroticism on stress reactivity and cortisol diurnal rhythms : findings from the Normative Aging Study
Proulx, Jeffrey A.
We examined the effect of daily stress, age, and emotional stability/neuroticism on stress reactivity, using cortisol diurnal rhythms. We used data from the Normative Aging Study (Spiro & Bosse, 2001). The 72 men in this study ranged from 67-93 (M =79.29, SD =4.88). Multilevel modeling showed that higher daily stress predicted flatter cortisol diurnal rhythms, B = .09, p < .001, as did age, B = .01, p < .001, while those higher in neuroticism on the emotional stability/neuroticism measure showed steeper slopes for cortisol diurnal rhythms, B = -.04, p < .001. These results indicate that age and emotional stability/neuroticism levels explain some of the variance in individual differences in stress reactivity and provide a basis for future research focused on the effects of psychosocial variables on physiological outcomes.
Graduation date: 2013
2013-01-31T00:00:00Z